Bushmate stove

[Franco Darioli]

The Bushbuddy stove has been on my mind for some time. I like the idea but particularly now that I am out of work ( I fired myself recently) the thought of spending over $100 US is bordering into the obscene area. So , since I have the time, I have been tinkering with the downdraught design. This is the result. Two cans, one a large cat food can and the other a taller Campbell soup can. The latter is something very unusual for me.
Tools needed : one hammer, one nail, one pair of scissors. Note the esthetically pleasing aluminum foil (to stop the gap between the two cans)
With a couple of 1" thick , 4" long pieces of wood (a dead branch from my camellia tree,( possibly not a good bit of burning wood and not very seasoned) I boiled one quart in about 10 minutes. That really was not the point, I have made a hobo stove that does much better than that, however I wanted to see the "downdraught" bit happening and to my surprise flames were coming out of the inner can stronger than from the wood it self. It took me a while (10 minutes) to come out with the pot support but I finally nailed it.
I call it the Bushmate
( any resemblance to the Bushmate is purely intentional)
170g . after three boils I would expect about 30-50 boils from it
Franco
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e389/Francophoto/odds/Francos-mate-1.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e389/Francophoto/odds/Francos-mate.jpg

[Joshua Mitchell]

Franco,

1) Nice job. Very well done.

2) Did you actually do the whole load a batch of wood in and light the top? Or did you simply get it burning and dump some stick in?

[Franco Darioli]

It needs a lot of work ( I am starting to appreciate the cost of the Bushbuddy) for a start that aluminum foil gap filler is not the best, but it works.
I put in about two thirds of that wood and added the rest. At the start it caused a lot of smoke (could be the wood I was using) but once it gets going, a couple of minutes, there is very little smoke happening. My main point was to make it with tools that most have and to be really simple , for people like me.
Franco
This reminds me of one of my lines in retail ( I was not one of those smooth guys)
Customer : I like to see a simple camera for my wife
Me : how simple is your wife ?

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